Swords & Wizardry Light - Forum

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

13th Age - I'm Trying to Remember Why / When I Preordered It...

Apparently 13th Age is off to the printers and set for a (maybe) Gen Con release. I preordered this, but I don't recall when or even why. I do remember placing the preorder, so I haven't totally lost my mind.

I seem to recall it was something along the lines of:

"Something old, something new,
Something borrowed and something blue"

Or is that for weddings?

Hopefully there will be something salvageable for me in the rules for use in the OSR but I doubt it.

Lookie! I just searched for my order. It was last August. I think that was around the time I ordered RQ6. I really should unload that book - there is nothing there that Mongoose Legend doesn't do without the complications, page bloat and excessive cost.

In any case, if 13th Age was a Kickstarter, the cost for a printed copy and PDF wouldn't have been excessive at all. I guess that is a saving grace of sorts.

5 comments:

  1. "I think that was around the time I ordered RQ6. I really should unload that book - there is nothing there that Mongoose Legend doesn't do without the complications, page bloat and excessive cost."

    I disagree pretty strongly with this. RQ6 fixes a lot of the minor problems with MRQII/Legend (e.g., charging, combat styles). RQ6 has three more magic systems than Legend. RQ6 has a bestiary, Legend does not. In short, RQ6 does a lot more than Legend.

    There are no more 'complications' in RQ6 than there are in Legend. There are more *options* (viz. the magic systems), but the core systems are the same in terms of 'complications'.

    RQ6 is a big, expensive book. The greater page count, in part, is due to font size and layout. But RQ6 provides a *complete* system, unlike the Legend core rulebook.

    (Sorry for the rant.)

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    1. I disagree with your rant. Legend is easier to navigate than RQ6 and options equate to complications. This is easy to see when fans talk about 2e bloat, or the d20 OGL.

      Also a major reason most Role-players are scared off of systems like GURPS or HERO are due to the options. In GURPS you roll 3d6 and want to roll low. That is pretty easy system, but the options will drowned you.

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    2. The additional options in RQ6 really consist of the additional magic systems. Choose which system(s) you want to use in your campaign, and there are no additional 'complications'. Moreover, many of the rules in RQ6 are explained more carefully and clearly than they are in Legend (and, in some cases, fixed).

      Aside from that, what RQ6 offers and Legend does not is what makes RQ6 a *complete* game (e.g., a bestiary). You have to buy at least *two* books (core + bestiary) in order to have a functional game with Legend. So Legend's purported 'simplicity' is misleading.

      I agree that RQ6 is a big book that can be intimidating, and wish that a slimmer 'intro' book were available. But the one RQ6 book is the equivalent of 3+ Legend books (core+bestiary+magic).

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    3. Oh I have both, but I just don't think RQ6 was worth it.

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  2. I was initially intrigued. I was originally promoted as being similar to old school systems, but with modern streamlining. Something along the lines of C&C or S&W was my initial feeling, until more was revealed.

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